Comment
I strongly encourage the requirements for wetland assessments in the REA Guide be streamlined/simplified, especially for northern wetlands. Projects in northern Ontario have proposed infrastructure components (roads, turbines, transmission lines) that overlap a lot of wetland units that are interconnected. This results in the planning and execution of wetland assessments to require an inordinate amount of effort to complete in order for the REA requirements to be met. Additionally, most of the wetland units are not sensitive or rare on the landscape (mainly swamp communities).
I recommend that wetland assessments be limited to more sensitive or rare wetland types (fens, bogs) so that planning and field study efforts are focused where they should be.
Standard mitigation measures can still be applied for a project so that potential impacts are mitigated throughout the lifespan of a project.
Submitted January 14, 2026 10:28 AM
Comment on
Amending the Renewable Energy Approval regulation to remove certain project types from the process and streamline the review of Natural Heritage Assessments
ERO number
025-1367
Comment ID
181887
Commenting on behalf of
Comment status